South Sudan's Bloody Civil War 

       Imagine being taken away from your family, and putting your education on hold and not being able experience a normal childhood or have a normal teenage life. This is the lifestyle that thousands of children are living right now in Africa, specifically in South Sudan, where they are still fighting their on and off civil war. 

      According to Human Rights Watch. com, they stated how "“Despite renewed promises by both government and opposition forces that they will stop using child soldiers, both sides continue to recruit and use children in combat,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “In Malakal, government forces are even taking children from right outside the United Nations compound". Unforntatly South Sudan's government and it's opposition aren't doing much to stop this, which is a war crime if the child is under 15. 

      Opposition forces still continue to recruit thousands of children who reside in refugee camps and take them even if the children doesn't want to go. Also many children are forced to fight, right away without being trained. Their has also been cases where young adults get recuited along with children. Many rebel commanders who are part of the oppositon forces, who are known to be the bad guys, use  child soliders as personal assistants. They make them cook, carry water and also carry ammunition with them, which is dangerous. When being forced to train, if they resist to do so, they get beaten heavily. Also, the UNICEF stated "around 70% of an estiminated 11,00 child soldiers are serving with rebel groups, including the notorious White Army, known for sending thousands of Children into battle"(Burridge). 

     Yet their has been some improvment of putting an end to recruiting child soldiers. In 2011, the Sudan people's liberation army had become independent from Sudan, which meant that they had made progress of using child soldiers. In December 2013, child recruitment resumed. The reason why it had resumed was becuase government forces that president Salva Kiir and opposition forces led by Riek Machar began to recuit children, due to the conflcits they had with eachother. By this time thousands of children had fought in the war on both sides. 

     Their is also cases where children volunteer to fight.  According to BBC.com, author Tom Burridge stated in a news article how "The United Nations says the recruitment of children in South Sudan's on-going civil war is "rampant". It estimates that there are 11,000 children serving in both the rebel, and government armies"(Burridge).  Children who reside in villages or even in refugee camps, are prone to get recruited by the oppositon forces and by rebel groups.When taken, many children manage to escape and find their way back to refugee camps and are then forced to stay. They are not permitted to leave the camp, becuase they will be at risk of getting recuited once again by the oppositon forces or by the governement.  
      Even though their has been attempts to stop the use of child soldiers, which was once going away a couple of years ago, the war once again came, which meant that children are being recruited once again. It's unforunate how young children from the ages of thirteen to seventeen are being taken away from their villages and refugee camps and are being forced to fight in a war that they have nothing to do with. Instead of being educated at schools, their education is being taken away from them regardless due to rebel groups stationing at villages schools. The South Sudan government and the opposition forces and other rebel groups should be held accountable for their wrong doing, and they should put an end to recuiting children for the war.  A war shouldn't be fought by young children.

1st article link: https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/02/16/south-sudan-government-forces-recruiting-child-soldiers

2nd article link: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29762263


Youtube video down below: